Mexico is Not Moving Forward with Energy Transition

During a presentation organized by the Mexican Academy of Engineering (AI), Dr. Rosa Prol Ledesma, President of the Geology Specialization Commission, AI, pointed out that Mexico has made no progress in terms of the energy transition, as Sweden, Switzerland and Finland remain the world leaders in this area.

Prol stressed that Mexico ranks 50th on an energy transition ranking of 115 countries evaluated by entities like ThinkGeoEnergy study. She added that this was unfortunate, as Mexico is one of the countries suffering the most from the adverse effects of climate change, along with other states such as India, China, Australia, Hungary, Indonesia and South Africa.

Furthermore, Prol highlighted the importance of renewable energy in the energy transition. She focused mainly on geothermal energy, of which a lower levelized cost of energy and modernized technology boosted its use and benefits in countries like Turkey. "Turkey is the fourth-largest producer of geothermal energy in the world, surpassing pioneers such as Mexico and Italy. At the beginning of this century, Turkey produced dozens of MWs, but in the last decade it has managed to develop more than 50 power plants, mostly binary cycles," she said.  

According to Prol, binary cycle plants produce zero greenhouse gas emissions since they function with a closed circuit. They also use less space than thermal power plants, can work non-stop and consume very little water. Furthermore, in a global context, geothermal energy has a growth projection of 27.9 percent by 2035, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Mexico’s first geothermal development dates to the 1940s, as it was among the first countries to exploit this resource. Mexico currently holds the world’s sixth-largest geothermal power capacity. According to data from the Spanish Technological and Innovation Geothermal Platform, the US has an installed capacity of 3,699MW, followed by Indonesia with 2,133MW, the Philippines with 1,918MW, Turkey with 1,526MW, New Zealand with 1,005MW, Mexico with 962.7MW and Italy with 944 MW.

In 2020, during the conference Geothermal Energy in Mexico’s Energy Future, Prol stated that installing a geothermal plant of 100MW would benefit around 600 families by generating new jobs and even more by the electricity produced. "The Cerro Prieto plant in Baja California is the third-largest geothermal plant in the world, generating more than 500MW. A single MW serves to illuminate between one thousand and two thousand houses, and we have the potential to produce up to 10GW per year. Sadly enough, this technology is underused," she said. Despite this potential, tenders to build geothermal plants in Puebla and Baja California were canceled in 2020. For 2023, CFE is once again planning to invest in geothermal power.